Studies in Jaina Art

Author(s): Umakant P Shah
Publisher: Parshwanath Vidyapith

Page 44

A BRIEF SURVEY OF JAINA ART IN THE NORTH
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Though no Jaina paintings of this age have survived, we can very well imagine what they could have been. Traces of (later ) paintings are also observed in the Jaina caves at Ellura.
The Western Indian Miniatures dating from c. 1100 A. D. show a later stage in Western Indian art, when angularity of faces, pinching of the farther cheek and consequent protusion of the farther eye into empty space became pronounced besides the crude colour modelling and the conventional treatment of trees, animals, birds etc. In the middle layer of wall paintings at Kailāsa, Ellura, datable to the gth century, one is confronted with some of these conventions.
The earlist known Jaina miniature paintings are the decorative roundels in the palm-leaf manuscripts of Niśītha Cūrni, dated 1100 A. D., from Samghavi Pādā Bhandar, Pātan. But more noteworthy are the two palm-leat miniatures in the manuscript of Jñātā and other Anga texts, dated 1127 A.D. (figs. 65-66), one of them represents Sarasvati standing in tribhangal with flowing and sensitive outlines; her farther eye does not protrude into space though the attendant worshippers betray more pronounced characteristics of Western Indian miniatures. But this painting should be regarded as influenced by southern forms, the form of Saraswati is more like those met with in contemporary sculptures from Canarese districts. 2
It must be remembered that Minaladevi, the Queen mother of Siddharāja, was a very powerful personality hailing from the South, whose influence in the court must have been responsible for an influence of artists from Canarese districts. It was impossible to avoid such cultural contacts.
Before we proceed to review the known miniatures, we must take note here of a still unpublished wooden book-cover, recently exhibited in the Exhibition of Manuscripts from different Jaina Bhandaras, arranged at Ahmedabad, during the XVII session of the All India Oriental Conference. The two pațţikās have been cut at ends, the other pieces being lost beyond recovery. The two pieces now left show paintings of Vidyādevis in a damaged condition. Whatever is left is sufficient to show that these paintings are earlier than the earliest known Western miniatures of the Niśitha Cūrņi and the Jāātā-dharmakatha manuscripts of 1100 and 1127 A. D. The set of Vidyādevis shows a style somewhat different from that of the manuscripts just mentioned. Figure modelling is of a superior order, showing no trace of angularity of features,
1 Moti Chandra, op. cit., Fig. 16.
2 Compare for example the Jaina Bronze from Purana Chandra Nāhar's collections, having a Canarese inscription on its back (c. 12th century A. D.), illustrated in $7 aggi dfga sazie, by Sri M. D. Desai.